Light amid the grey

June tricks you. It’s one of the greyest months of the year when ev­ery­thing is ti­died up, shut down, or brood­ing while the Earth’s south has its turn away from the sun to cool and rest. And, yet, it’s also the month when you can be bowled over by the sight of ki­wifruit on a tan­gled vine or lemons ex­celling on a tree. It’s easy to miss the ex­cite­ment of fresh fruit in win­ter. With the lessons of 10 sum­mers be­hind me now, I know that wrapped up in June’s moody grey lay­ers, there will be life as colour­ful as a cro­chet square blan­ket, and fit for a trop­i­cal cock­tail. My cit­rus hedge will flour­ish and, hope­fully, my young ki­wifruit too. There will be cumquats and fei­joas, pas­sion­fruit and limes… And while I play with th­ese — spic­ing up a crum­ble, or mak­ing mar­malade and jam — I’ll delve into Jamie Oliver’s Com­fort Food (a Christ­mas present to my­self ). Those recipes that made my mouth wa­ter, but were too hot to try last sum­mer when Oliver’s umpteenth cook­book came out… well, they’re on top of my list now. It’s time to dig into his Mighty Greek Mous­saka and Bonkers Bread & But­ter Panet­tone Pud­ding Tart. And try those two ways to make the per­fect ba­con sarnie (his and his best friend’s) and de­cide which I like best. Words by Hi­lary Bur­den, au­thor of A Story of Seven Sum­mers (Allen & Un­win, $29.99)